This book hurt me in all of the best ways.

I knew going in that it was going to be emotional. I mean, we're told in the blurb that it deals with grief and losing your best friend. Not only that but dealing with readers and writers and losing your best friend. Yeah... anyone who knows me knew this one was going to hit hard.

But I wanted to read it anyway.

And I'm so glad I did.

I spent more of this book sobbing than I care to admit but sometimes, you just need a good cry I guess.

This is a very small group of people who all have the best magic around them. They are those people that everyone wishes they can have in their life. But having said that, some of the side characters (Alex and Val in particular) seem a little too perfect. But that may also be because I was so in love with Amelia and Nolan that I didn't pay as much attention to those who dimmed behind them.

Also, let's talk about Nolan's dog (I honestly can't even remember his name right now and it's not because they didn't say it a million times, my mind is just blanking). He reminds me SO MUCH of my giant Australian Shepherd Flash. Too big for his own good. Goofy. Doesn't realize he might as well be a miniature horse. Yeah, I love that.

The story hinges on Amelia trying to figure out how to live her life without Jenna, and Nolan figuring out how to deal with his grief (and boy did that one hit me deep), and I honestly think this book could be helpful for anyone going through a similar situation. I think they both find healthy ways to deal with their grief while also finding each other.

Cover 5; characters 4; plot 4; pace 5; writing 4; enjoyment 5; cry *

4 Stars

TW for grief and loss of a loved one.

“Amelia Unabridged” is a raw, beautifully tragic story.

I really don’t want to say too much for fear of giving the story away. I actually think the synopsis gives too much away, so I don’t recommend reading that.

Amelia is feeling lost after a tragic loss when she receives a mysterious package. She wants to learn more about this mysterious gift and the sender so she looks up the return address. When she’s unable to gleam any information that way her next course of action is to head there herself and find it that way. What she finds is more than she bargained for, in a good way.

The main characters, Amelia and Nolan, are broken and consumed with grief and guilt. They learn to heal together; they give each other hope and the strength to move on.

This has a fantasy/fairytale feel to it although it isn’t either one. I didn’t really like “connected thread” aspect the two share, so that made their supposed connection unbelievable to me. The majority of the book takes place over a week so although the romance didn’t really feel insta-love to me, I wasn’t sure I fully believed in it either. However, my main takeaway from this isn’t the romance so it didn’t bother me too much in the end.

I cried early on and all throughout the rest of the book. This is a heartbreaking story; it isn’t a feel-good at all but I was left feeling hopeful. It’s beautifully written and although it’s sad and melancholy for most of the book, I would recommend it. It’s a gorgeous tale of grief and moving on and finding happiness and allowing yourself these things.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

Review to come once I stop sobbing.

_____

Last night at about 11pm, I was only 20% finished this book. I wasn't expecting to have to stay up until THREE AM to finish it in one sitting. But it was just that good.

Amelia is a senior about to embark on the college journey with her best friend, Jenna. But first, they're going to have one last totally awesome summer. Jenna is going on a trip to Ireland, and to spend some time together before she departs, they go to a conference to see their favorite author, N.E. Endsley. After Endsley bails and the trip is ruined, Jenna goes on her trip, but dies in a car accident. Faced with the grief of losing her best friend, the pressure from her family to live up to the future Jenna planned for them both, and an incredible gift she was sent by a mysterious sender, Amelia sets out on her own adventure to Michigan to solve this mystery. She finds more than just the answer at a little bookstore in the middle of nowhere as she meets Endsley himself and learns more about herself and the grief that life has in store for us all.

I don't even know what to write for this review. I think there were parts that weren't "perfect", as in they felt too coincidental for the realistic fiction genre or felt too tropey, but I LOVED every minute of this novel. The character development was fantastic, the plot was intriguing held together by a common thread of grief, the romance was beautiful (even though there wasn't much slow burn at all). I thought the ending could have been tighter, but it was perfect, and I want to reread it already.

If you like YA romance, this is the book for you. RUN, don't walk to your nearest bookstore to buy this one. I will be ordering my copy immediately.

This story definitely had me smiling as well as having a warmness in my heart. This novel had such amazing well developed characters with the merging of fairy tales and fantasy vibes along with finding hope and strength within yourself and finding love along the way. This is a novel which i normally wouldn't pick up but I absolutely loved it. Definitely will read again.

Ashley Schumacher’s stunning debut novel Amelia Unabridged is the story of what happens when the emotions of loss become repaired by the power of love. The novel was well-paced as the emotional journey of her characters was built in a natural and satisfying way. The novel begins as protagonist Amelia Griffin has experienced a shift in her family dynamic. The novel reflects the passage of time showing Amelia’s ability to move past being abandoned by her father and her resilience in building intimacy despite experiencing sudden loss. Amelia’s journey shows the inner dialogue that occurs when experiencing and processing complex emotions as grief in a touching and realistic way. This novel held my attention throughout and was a pleasure to read and review. I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher (Wednesday books) for an advanced review copy of this novel. I give the novel a high five out of five stars on Goodreads and highly recommend it.

Amelia Griffin and her friend Jenna are best friends linked by the written word. Particularly the words of N. E. Endsley, the enigmatic author of the Orman Chronicles. So when the girls get an opportunity to meet him at a book convention, they believe it is the pre-college adventure they've been waiting for. Unfortunately, in an unexpected turn of events, Amelia loses the chance to meet him, because even though N. E. Endsley is known for his adventurous characters, he is far from that. In fact, N. E. suffers from anxiety, and is holding onto a paralyzing grief that has caused him a case of major writer's block.
But when Amelia experiences a life-altering event, she loses her love for reading as her imagination becomes blocked off by grief. When she receives a mysterious gift, she decides to go on a journey to discover its origins. Her trip leads her to a seaside town where she collides with N. E. Endsley himself. The REAL N. E. Endsley, not the one-dimensional boy on the inside of a book jacket, but the one who is drowning and needs to be saved. But what he doesn't know is his savior is also in need of some saving of her own. Without planning on it, Amelia and N. E. become each other's lifelines and open up to each other in ways they never expected to, and share their unabridged stories. As they grow closer they learn that sadness is as important to our stories as happiness is, and the story doesn't have to end in sadness as long as you keep reading.
This was a sweet story about how grief, loss, and the love of stories can connect us to the unlikeliest of people. There were many beautiful passages in the story, and I found myself highlighting quite a few passages throughout. The only thing I did not like about this book was the ending. I feel like such a beautiful book deserved a more satisfying ending. For such an imaginative story, the ending fell a bit flat But I will still recommend it to other readers, because as I said it is a beautiful book. I just wish the ending was better.

I think this story had a lot of potential and it was an obviously cute romance (but a little awkward), but I can't help but think how dangerous it is to frame a young adult story around a belief that love or finding "the one" can cure mental illness. I was also a little put off by the fact that Amelia jumps from one parasocial relationship to another, and the fact that the poor parents in the story are the obvious villains.

Amelia Griffin loves the Orman Chronicles, a magical series of books that have transported her to a faraway land every time she’s opened their pages. They’re also special to her because she discovered the books the same day she met her best friend, Jenna. That was also the same day her father left her family and her mother basically checked out of life. Jenna and her parents welcomed Amelia into their home and made her one of the family.

When Amelia and Jenna graduate high school, they have their futures together mapped out, mostly thanks to Jenna and her take-charge personality. They are going to go to college together, and Amelia is going to study English and become a professor. But first order of business is the summer, starting with a trip to California to a book festival where the author of the Orman Chronicles will be in attendance. N.E. Endsley is famous for his popular books but also reclusive, so the festival is a rare chance to see him and have him sign their books.

But the festival doesn’t go as planned; Endsley calls off his appearance, and Amelia is crushed. And when she finds out that Jenna got to talk to the author while she was off in the restroom, she’s angry at her friend. Devastatingly, soon after, Jenna goes away on a study trip, where she’s killed in a car accident, and Amelia is left alone and shattered by her grief.

When a beautiful rare edition of one of the Orman books arrives at her local bookstore for Amelia, she is sure Jenna had something to do with it. She calls the store in Michigan, but the clerk has no answers for her. So Amelia goes off to Michigan — to solve the mystery, but also to connect somehow with Jenna.

She discovers a charming bookshop in a small town on a lake where the owner teaches piano lessons, and where the owner’s son is best friends with a boy who mostly stays to himself but pops in regularly to the store, mostly accompanied by a big dog. And that boy is N.E. Endsley. The six days Amelia visits become some of the most important and special of her life, and she has to decide how to move forward with her future, being true to herself and the memory of her friend.

Amelia Unabridged is a beautiful book about friendship and loss, about grief, about finding one’s way, and it is an homage to the magic of books and the power of reading. It’s set in a bookstore that any reader would love to visit, and it draw readers right along on the adventure that Amelia has lived over and over while reading the Orman books. Any of us who have been transported through the wardrobe into Narnia or via Platform 9 ¾ to the world of Harry Potter will know right away how Amelia feels. The setting is a paean to books and the story is a poignant one about love and friendship. My only quibble is that a lot of the time it reads more like a middle-grade book with the simplicity and style of the writing, though its main characters are 18 and 19. But I really enjoyed it anyway and loved especially that it’s clean reading. I can therefore heartily recommend it to anyone.

The premise of this book was interesting - I usually enjoy books that focus on... books. In this case, Amelia and her best friend Jenna initially bonded over a fantasy series called the Orman Chronicles. Early in the novel, Jenna dies unexpectedly and Amelia is left to find her way through the grief and pain of that. She gets a mysterious package from a bookstore in Michigan and decides to travel to that town, where she finds the young, reclusive, and enigmatic author of the Chronicles. I've seen this author compared to Jandy Nelson, and that comparison seems appropriate to me. They both handle grief in young characters in a careful and kind way.

Sometimes if you are very lucky, fate or the book gods lead you to a read that maybe you would not discover otherwise, and it is truly a blessing. That is exactly how I feel about this book. I have so many feelings about this astounding story and nowhere near enough skill to share them adequately. The whole basis of this touching tale is firmly based on realistic things such as friendship, jealousy, anger loss, grief, regret, endurance, love and the incredible effects that they can and do have in all of our lives. It is tragic, powerful, painful, heartbreaking, emotional and beautiful. Whether you actually are a young adult reader or someone that is older, I think you will feel a visceral connection to Amelia's poignant journey. Do be prepared though because if you are like me, this read is going to wreck you emotionally but it is absolutely worth the workout your heat and tear ducts are going to get.

Many thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the e-arc! All opinions are my own.

Amelia Griffin has been best friends with Jenna Williams since she was fifteen. While on vacation in Ireland, her best friend dies. Amelia has to learn how to cope with Jenna being gone. Amelia receives a book from a mysterious bookstore in Michigan. She goes to investigate who sent her the book and learns more about herself and her favorite author than she bargained for.

I loved this book enough to read it in one sitting. Amelia is the bookish rendition of all of us, minus the death of our best friend. She knows the struggles of never meeting your favorite author when you thought you would, but also she has to cope with her best friend's death. Ashley Schumacher wrote a wonderfully devastating book that made me realize that even when you feel things are the worst they can be, keep on living for those who are still around you. I felt connected to Amelia even though I haven't been through similar experiences.

If Ashley Schumacher writes another book, I am going to read it. She is an amazing writer.

AMELIA UNABRIDGED is one of my favorite debuts of 2021! Schumacher weaves an incredible story about friendship, grief, and the power of story that kept me up long past my bedtime. Amelia and Nolan are wonderful foils to each other, and the addition of the world of the Orman Chronicles and an almost mystical beach town in Michigan make this one unforgettable.

I literally read this book in one sitting!! I was intrigued by the description, being part of a few fandoms. I know what it’s like to love something desperately and have it come to mean more to you than it should. The way Amelia feels about Orman is so familiar to me, even though I am middle aged. I was completely unprepared for the shock that comes early on.
Amelia’s subsequently journey to Michigan is unrealistic, and yet somehow works beautifully as it turns from a fan meeting her favorite author, to just two teenagers trying to cope with unimaginable grief and discovering who they are in their new normal. I loved every minute of reading this, and definitely look forward to the author’s next book.

5 stars +++ = Best of the best

Wow, this was incredible! This exceeded my expectations in every way imaginable. This is the sort of book that the expression "book hangover" was created for. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself when I finished. I needed to either sit with the experience for awhile or start the book over again immediately.

I loved everything about this - Amelia, Nolan, the book store, the Orman series pieces, how the grief and loss issues were handled, the descriptions of Amelia's photographs, the epilogue. Truly, every minute of this was a delight.

There are times when the writing of a book will catch my attention - great descriptions or metaphors that will take me out of the reading for a moment to appreciate the craft. But this was at a different level for me where the writing took me *further* into the story, deepening the escape rather than drawing attention to itself. This will definitely be one of my top books for 2021 when the year wraps up. (Language, TW: grief/loss)

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

5/5 stars!

Just going to say it now: This review might have a little less energy than my normal ones because I just finished the book and this book hangover is going to be ROUGH.

Honestly? I never expected this to be one of my ever-elusive five-star books. You know a book is something special when it makes a heart of stone cry and laugh in the duration of barely three hundred pages. This was heartbreaking. But beautiful.

I've never read Geekerella or Fangirl or some of the popular books about bookish people, but I knew I was going to like that Amelia was a bookworm! I think most of us fanatical readers can see a bit of ourselves in her and empathize with how books can be everything you need right when you need them.

This is not a light book, which is evident from the synopsis. I found this book to be a very realistic portrayal of not only grief but carving your own path away from what everyone else wants you to do. After Jenna, Amelia's best friend, died, Amelia was willing to do whatever it took to escape her mourning family and the Jenna-sized hole in her life. Going to that tiny town in Michigan ended up being one of the best decisions she ever made. Seeing her handle her grief and that broken emptiness Jenna left behind was utterly heartbreaking. But as she and Nolan tried to cope together, something beautiful rose from the ashes.

Amelia Unabridged is also, like I said, a great portrayal of the difficulties of carving out your own path. There was this one conversation that I'm probably botching because I can't remember it exactly, but Amelia made a weak joke about how Jenna was dead and therefore couldn't force her down a path. But someone (probably Nolan) told her that the dead often have more influence than the living. Amelia wanted to do something related to photography, but she and Jenna had their whole lives mapped out based on the fact that Amelia was going to be an English professor. Parents start getting pushy and you know how it is. Seeing Amelia struggle with that was devastatingly genuine.

I loved the characters! Though I was always a fan of Amelia, I didn't like Nolan at all at first. But that was when we knew him as N. E. Endsley, who is a very different person than Nolan Endsley. Seeing him come out of his shell and into his own was a journey of his own alongside Amelia's. To be fair, this book isn't just about Amelia's struggle. Nolan has a lot going on too.

But the side characters! Alex was freaking amazing. As always, I love a platonic relationship between a guy and a girl! I saw that we had two guys and I was worried about a love triangle, but phew! Friendships exist!

The writing style was to die for. Rich and detailed, it described everything perfectly. I made some highlights in my ARC, but they don't copy over to Goodreads, which is annoying. There are some beautiful quotes in this novel.

All in all, this is a new favorite of mine! I'm not really a contemporary book kind of person, but this hit differently. Now all I need to do is get a physical copy.

As Amelia grapples with the grief of loss, she finds more to life than the heart-stopping hurt she is experiencing. When Amelia's life is turned outside down at the loss of her best friend, she is left stranded in her emotions. In the wake of her loss, Amelia receives a mysterious package that has the potential to alter the path of her life.

This book is entirely human. It sails through every emotion, exposing the raw cracks of what it is to live in grief. I was pleasantly surprised at the deep connection that I formed with the characters in a mere few chapters. There was an immediate closeness in acknowledging the suppressed and ignored emotions that dwell in the deepest parts of the mind. I easily fell into the story and was enchanted until the very end.

Amelia is a quiet ocean, full of shifting tides of emotion and unresolved turmoil. She is steady on the best of days and deeply caring while wrecked on the days where her courage falters. She is profoundly human, bursting with imagination and curiosity, while also terrified of the messy world around her.

Nolan is the imperfect author and the reclusive quiet boy in the corner with a caring soul. Despite being closed off from my people, his relationship with Amelia reveals how intricate his personality weaves together. His hurt runs deep and blends into Amelia's as they connect and find comfort in each other.

I absolutely how each character in the book impacted and contributed to the overall message of healing. Threads tied each of the characters together, weaving a story of growth and self-discovery. While grief is an arduous topic to read and be written about, the author handled it with grace and raw truth throughout this whole book.

Ashley Schumacher wonderfully crafts a beautiful tale with lyrical writing and imaginative imagery. It is truly the writing that entranced me and kept me engaged throughout the entire story! The only downfall that I could find was a lack of diversity within the novel, and I found myself wishing for more characters of colour within the many white leads. However, the delivery of the story was beautiful, and it accurately portrayed the complex layers of grief.

Thank you to the wonderful publisher for sending me an eARC via NetGallery in exchange for an honest review.

AMELIA UNABRIDGED is a beautiful tribute to grief, bookworms, and the work it takes to learn just who you are. If you want to read something that will make you cry, ponder, and improve yourself, get a copy of AMELIA UNABRIDGED.

What a beautiful debut! It's emotional and gut wrenching, but absolutely breath-taking. I'm not much for best friend stories, but this blew others out of the park. This story won't leave my thoughts for days upon days. I will be reading more from this author for sure!

Emotional, captivating and full of characters that will worm their way into your heart. Amelia Unabridged is the story of two very different teenagers struggling to deal with loss and find out who they really are with the help of one another as well as through books. Naturally, I am a sucker for any book with a literary setting (in this case, a bookstore) and Amelia & Nolan instantly captured my attention. This book is heartbreaking in so many ways, but also hopeful at the same time.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I love a good grief storyline, but the romantic arc is super annoying me for spoilery reasons. I feel like I shouldn't continue because I don't wanna one-star the book, so I'm DNFing it.